Project Launch Pad: Students get a digital lesson in English

By
, The Times Herald

Sunday, February 2, 2014

PLYMOUTH — With children being exposed to computers in the classroom at increasingly younger ages, subjects traditionally reliant on reading books and utilizing verbal communication skills could easily get lost in the shuffle.

For Holy Rosary Regional Catholic School sixth grade English Teacher Jennifer Crawford, iPads serve as creative new platforms to pique children’s curiosity and reinforce real life skills crucial to a career in a technological society.

This edition of Project Launch Pad explores this new interactive platform which Crawford said expands children’s exposure to quality literature.

“It exposes them to higher forms of literature that they, as sixth graders, may not have had the opportunity to see before, such as Shakespeare, Donne and Dickinson,” Crawford said, referencing a research project her students were working on.

Crawford spent the first half of the double class period assigned for English lecturing her students on eight different literary forms. Aside from the students who opted to take notes on their iPads, the classroom had the look of a traditional English class.

Once the lesson was complete, however, the students entered the digital world. The students used Google to research famous examples of the literary devices they just learned.

For the next hour students could be heard saying, “I found a metaphor in Shakespeare” or asking “Does Poe use personification?”

Using graphics and photos in conjunction with the quotes they found on the internet, the students made printable posters on an app called PicCollage — replacing the traditional posterboard, Elmer’s glue and coloring utensils with just an iPad hooked up to a wireless printer.

“Allowing the students to choose their own examples gives them the opportunity to make the content their own,” Crawford said. “It allows them to insert their own personality into the project by picking things that reflect their interests.”

“The students have the opportunity to see the importance of class material because it is and will be used outside the school walls.”

Though Crawford described herself as “technologically fluent,” she admitted that when she was in college learning how to teach English, she was not taught how to weave the iPad into a lesson plan.

After a weeklong technology academy through Archbishop John Carroll High School this past summer, Crawford had more than enough material to start laying the framework of an iPad friendly classroom.

“Each day at the Connelly Tech Academy, we learned about a specific topic area: Flipped Classrooms, iMovie, Google Drive and iPad implementation in the classroom,” Crawford said. “We learned the theory behind these topic areas, then practical implementation techniques per our content area and grade level.”

So far Crawford said she had the opportunity to use iMovies, Educreations, LearnZillion, Keynote, Edmodo, QR Codes, Explain Everything, Prezi and Knowmia to reinforce specific English topics.

“On Halloween, I used a Prezi for Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’ that talked about the content and poetry techniques employed in the poem,” Crawford said about the app that gives students different tools to create presentations. “And for a book report, the students turned a summary of the book into a QR Code and made a promotional poster for their book.”

These types of projects expand students’ skill sets beyond reading and writing, according to Crawford. Not only do the students learn critical research skills for high school and college but also learn about vocations that require communication and creativity.

“Technology gives my students a new platform to express themselves creatively in class,” Crawford explained. “It allows them to immediately see the benefits of their work by giving them the opportunity to publish their work by printing, posting, sending or blogging. It also creates an entire world of inspiration that they have at their finger tips.”

The practical side of the iPad classroom has not been lost on Crawford. The iPads function as the grammar textbook and work book.

“The grammar eBooks, VOCES by Teacher’s Discovery, allow the students to have 24-hour access to grammar. They do not have to worry about bringing books or notes home,” Crawford said. “It also gives the kids video and picture prompts to apply the grammar that they learn in the lessons. For example, one prompt was to choose your favorite song and find all the pronouns in it.”

Crawford said the added avenues for feedback are crucial to an English class.

“I’m there with the thinking process. I can get my fingers in there during the process and not just when they’re done writing,” Crawford said. “The grammar books are made of interactive activities that give students immediate feedback, which allows the students to see their errors and make corrections.

Crawford predicts that as she sees students interact with iPad-centered lessons, she will be able to adapt and make better lesson plans based on those experiences.

“I can’t wait for the second round of the Tech Academy,” Crawford said, looking forward to the coming summer when she will get a more in-depth look at the methodology behind teaching with technology.

One thing Crawford said she has learned for certain is that biweekly creative writing has gone a long way to improving her students’ entire skillset.

“Creative writing ignites the students’ imaginations. It gives them the chance to align their interests with their school work and bring their own topics into my classroom,” Crawford said. “Creative writing lets them think ‘outside the box.’ It challenges them to create an entire world out of nothing but their ideas and a blank page, instead of just responding to a prompt.”

One thing parents can be sure of: their children no longer just write on the page, they build them.

Keep an eye out for the next editions of project Launch Pad, where the sixth grade students themselves will discuss the iPad classroom with the Times Herald editors.